BOJ leadership nominees to testify in lower house March 2 and 5

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s lower house of parliament will hold a confirmation hearing on March 2 for Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, who has been nominated for another term, a lower house official said on Wednesday.

His hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m.-3:35 p.m. (0400-0635 GMT).

A separate hearing for the two BOJ deputy governor nominees will be held for about two hours from 2:15 p.m. (0515 GMT) on March 5, the official added.

The upper house is also expected to hold similar hearings next month on the BOJ leadership.

The nominations need approval by both chambers, which is a near certainty as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s governing coalition holds a comfortable majority.

For the deputy posts, the government has tapped Masazumi Wakatabe, a Waseda University academic and an advocate of aggressive easing, and BOJ Executive Director Masayoshi Amamiya, a veteran central banker known for shaping monetary policy.